Trump is right about Chicago being wrong on sanctuary city status

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the Address to Congress on Tuesday, February 28, 2017, at the U.S. Capitol. This is the President's first Address to Congress of his presidency. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

One person died and 27 others were shot over an 18-hour period during the Easter weekend according to the Chicago Tribune, a newspaper that continues to take on President Donald Trump in virtually every daily issue. On Monday, the Tribune headlined an article “Trump says he can’t be sued for violence at rally because he won the election,” but the violence Trump has ridden the city about continues to escalate.

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“In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone — and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher,” Trump said during applause at his Feb. 28, 2017 joint address to Congress. “This is not acceptable in our society. “Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community, to attend a great school, and to have access to a high-paying job. But to create this future, we must work with — not against, not against — the men and women of law enforcement.”

In a recent daily White House briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer implied that sanctuary cities, including Chicago, could lose millions of dollars in federal law-enforcement grants for allowing illegal immigrants and gang members “to come into the country who are breaking the law, who in many cases are committing crimes.”

Chicago skyline (Photo by Jack Dennis)

In 2016 there were 4,367 shooting victims in Chicago. The homicide count was 785 homicides. The trend for 2017 is increasing.

“The Trump Administration is committed to reducing violent crime,” The White House states on the official website. “In 2015, homicides increased by 17% in America’s fifty largest cities. That’s the largest increase in 25 years. In our nation’s capital, killings rose by 50 percent over the past four years There were thousands of shootings in Chicago last year alone.”

“Our country needs more law enforcement, more community engagement, and more effective policing.”

“Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter. Our job is to make life more comfortable for parents who want their kids to be able to walk the streets safely. Or the senior citizen waiting for a bus. Or the young child walking home from school.”

Besides the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Tywan Anderson this weekend, other surviving victims included three teenagers aged 14, 15, and 17. From The Tribune:

Several of the attacks also injured multiple victims as gunmen opened fire on groups of people. Two shootings that occurred in the Chatham and Back of the Yards neighborhoods each injured three people.

Anderson, whose address was not known, was killed in the Douglas Park neighborhood was shot in the head and back and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:57 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

In the same shooting, a 19-year-old man was shot in the hand and also taken to Mount Sinai, where his condition was stabilized.

Many of the shootings listed in the report were of people simply walking on sidewalks as gunmen ran up to them and started shooting. In others, shots were fired from vehicles. Injures included wounds to ankles, knees, hands, arms, abdomens, faces, and on 23-year-old victim in critical condition who was shot in the foot and eye.

The youngest victim, a 14-year-old boy, was shot around midnight in his right bicep while walking along a neighborhood sidewalk. Men walked up to him and opened fire. The next youngest, a 15-year-old victim, was sitting in the back of a car just before midnight when he was shot in the cheek. A 17-year-old girl was walking with a group in an alley when a dark car opened fire, hitting her in the leg.